Melekh, Yaroslav;
Grubb, Michael;
Dixon, James;
(2024)
Energy Technologies for Low-Carbon Development in Middle-Income Countries: Assessment and Implications.
World Bank: Washington, D.C., USA.
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Abstract
This paper investigates the implications of growing energy demand and industrialization in middle-income countries and the role of low-carbon technology options in the green transition. It emphasizes the importance of the transition to low-carbon electricity systems, and the benefits of electrification to reduce energy consumption and emissions. It underscores the economic and environmental challenges of transitioning from coal to gas, noting the vulnerability of gas to geostrategic perturbations and methane leakage, which undermines its potential climate benefits. It finds carbon capture and storage (CCS) for power generation to be impractical for most middle-income countries due to significant costs, high infrastructural barriers, and crowding-out investments in electricity storage which has demonstrated significant cost reductions. It concludes that the transition to natural gas and CCS will inevitably lead to carbon lock-in in the power sector. However, CCS can play a role in hard-to-abate sectors in middle-income countries that account for a significant share of the young fleet of blast furnaces and cement kilns. It finds that commissioning new blast furnaces will expose global net-zero targets, and instead, explores the role of hydrogen as a potential solution in the steel sector. Finally, it discusses how high financing costs delay the transition in middle-income countries and addresses the issues of carbon leakage and the need for international cooperation on manufacturing standards and the terms of trade.
| Type: | Working / discussion paper |
|---|---|
| Title: | Energy Technologies for Low-Carbon Development in Middle-Income Countries: Assessment and Implications |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Publisher version: | https://thedocs.worldbank.org/en/doc/911f70becb5de... |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the version of record. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
| Keywords: | energy transition; coal transition; electrification; variable renewable energy; electricity storage; hydrogen; carbon capture and storage; industrial decarbonization; technology readiness levels; energy innovation; climate finance |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment > Bartlett School Env, Energy and Resources |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10194813 |
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